Hitler's Eagles Nest

During our stay in Salzburg we traveled about 30 km south of Salzburg into the German Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden to see what is known as Hitler's Eagles Nest- or as the German's call it Kehlsteinhaus. The Eagles Nest is on top of Kehlstein mountain and was built for Hitler as a 50th birthday present in 1938-1939. It took 13 months to build and was used as a place for Hitler to entertain important guests. To reach this point, you need to take a special bus up a narrow 4 mile mountain road. The last 124m up the mountain are reached by an elevator of polished brass that was bored straight through the mountain. As you can see from the pictures- the views were absolutely amazing.

During World War II the allied forces tried to bomb and destroy this place. However, due to fog and weather conditions, the target was missed and nearby areas were heavily destroyed. The allies took control of the Eagles Nest in May1945 and used it as a military command post until 1960. After 1960, it was returned to the German government.

Salzburg Austria-other sites

Salzburg is such a beautiful city and we really enjoyed our time here. The city has the only fortress in europe that wasn't taken over by force. But as you can see from the first picture that is because it was so high above the rest of the villages. Salzburg is also the city where Mozart was born and raised. However, by the time he was famous he had moved to Vienna to live with the royal family. The old part of the city is very typical of many european cities that we've visited so far.

All the houses in Austria have beautiful flower boxes on the front of them. Everywhere you look-you see these flowers. The last pictures are of the girls just having fun during our time in Salzburg. Lauren having fun one night at dinner in the old city center, and the last picture of the two girls at the Salzburg Zoo.

Salzburg Austria- The Sound of Music

The next stop on our 2 week vacation was Salzburg Austria. This was a very pretty city, and of course where the Sound of Music was filmed. As Ericka loves this movie, we just had to take a Sound of Music tour where they showed us the various sights from the movie. First of all we learned a lot about the real Von Trapp family. For those of you who love the movie and are interested in the real story of the Von Trapps-just ask me and I'll tell you later what was actually true and what was "hollywood made". If you are familiar you will recognize the sights: the front of the Von Trapp house, the back of the house, the gazebo, Mirabell gardens (where Maria and the children sang Doe Ray Me), the church where they got married, the cemetary where they hid from the Nazi's, and of course the lake district where Maria sang in the mountains at the beginning of the movie. However, most Austrians wouldn't know what you were talking about if you asked them to show you the sights of the Sound of Music. Most of them have never seen the movie even though every year Salzburg attracts thousands of tourists to see these sights.

Neuschwanstein Castle

During our stay in Munich we made the 1.5 hour drive outside of Munich into the Bavarian mountains to see Neuschwanstein castle. This castle was built for the Bavarian King Ludwig II. The castle was begun in 1868 but never fully completed. It is considered one of the most famous historical buildings in the world. We did get to tour the inside of this castle, however they would not allow us to take pictures. So unfortunately we can't share with you how beautiful and magnificent the inside actually was. Ericka pretty much sums up our views of this place when she says: "this is my favorite castle!"

Munich Germany

Well we've finally returned from our first 2 week vacation and we've seen quite the sights. The first stop for us was Munich Germany. Unfortunately we had cold and rain for most of the time that we were there, but we tried to make the most of it. The first day we arrived we couldn't figure out why it was so crowded and there were people drinking beer, eating sausages and dressed in traditional german clothing everywhere!!! Well it just happened to be the 850th birthday of Munich.

Here are some pictures of the sights of Munich. The first pictures are of the birthday party we experienced on our day of arrival. The next set of pictures are from Nymphenburg Palace. The girls are sitting in front of one of the many fountains in the gardens of this beautiful palace. The last picture was taken in the Marienplatz- also known as the heart of the old city of Munich.

Disneyland Paris

We all went to Disneyland Paris with grandma bug for three days this past week. The girls had a good time, although Lauren was scared of all of the characters whenever they got close to her. Ericka enjoyed dressing up like a princess and getting all of the characters and princesses autographs.

Lauren's favorite ride was "It's a small world" and Ericka's favorite ride was "Buzz lightyear laser blast". Grandma bug's favorite was the carrousel. Thankfully we had good weather and the crowds weren't too terrible. We just had two very tired girls by the time we went home.

Castles of Luxembourg

Mark's mom (Grandma Bug) was here visiting us this past week. We took her to many sights around Luxembourg and to see two of the castles of Luxembourg. The first picture is of Vianden Castle, which is the largest castle in Luxembourg. It was constructed between the 11th and 14th centuries.

The 2nd picture is of the grand ducal palace in Luxembourg city. This was the residence of the royal family from 1895 until the 1950's. The royal family now lives outside the city of Luxembourg and this palace now houses many government offices.

The third picture is of Ericka and grandma bug at one of the parks in Luxembourg city.